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Contact Info
Home Town Flint, MI
Date of Passing Feb 15, 1976
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Wall/Plot Coordinates 2 4735-B
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Admiral Maurice E. Curts graduated from United States Naval Academy in 1919. He studied the emerging technology of radio at the Naval Postgraduate School in Annapolis, Maryland and Harvard University between 1926 and 1928. These studies led to his assignment as Officer-in-Charge, Radio and Sound, Naval Research Laboratory from 1936 to 1938, where he earned a commendation from the Secretary of the Navy for his outstanding contributions in the development of radar.
At the outbreak of World War II, Admiral Curts was the Communications Officer for the staff of Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his successful and innovative organization of joint communications during the first months of the war.
Admiral Curts was awarded the Navy Cross and Silver Star Medal for extraordinary heroism while commanding the cruiser USS COLUMBIA during the Leyte Gulf landings, the Battle of Surigao Strait, the Lingayen Gulf landings and the liberation of Borneo. During the initial Lingayen Gulf landings, he continued to lead his cruiser in action despite severe damage inflicted by two suicide planes which had left 100 of his men dead or wounded.
As Chief of Staff and Aide to Commander, FIRST Carrier Task Force, Pacific Fleet, Admiral Curts was present at the formal surrender of the Japanese on board the battleship USS MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay on 02 September 1945.
Following the close of World War II, Admiral Curts served as Force Commander, Operational Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet; Assistant Chief of Naval Operations (Readiness); and Deputy Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet, serving with great distinction until 13 January 1956. On that date, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Admiral Curts Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet. Admiral Curts served in that capacity until 01 February 1958. One month later, he assumed duty as Commander, Western Sea Frontier, serving in that capacity until his retirement on 01 April 1960.
Other Comments:
Navy Cross
Awarded for Actions During World War II
Service: Navy
Division: U.S.S. Columbia (CL-56)
General Orders: Commander 7th Fleet: Serial 27-F (March 1945)
Citation: The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Rear Admiral [then Captain] Maurice Edwin Curts (NSN: 0-55964), United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service in the line of his profession as Commanding Officer of the Light Cruiser U.S.S. COLUMBIA (CL-56), in action against enemy Japanese forces during the amphibious landings on Leyte and during the Battle for Leyte Gulf from 17 to 29 October 1944. Skillfully directing his ship in an assignment of vital importance, Rear Admiral Curts courageously maneuvered through enemy-infested waters during the approach on Leyte Gulf and, continually providing alert and effective defense for our invasion forces against hostile air attacks, furnished close-in bombardment support for the actual landings. In the course of this action, his ship assisted in the sinking of at least one Japanese battleship, a cruiser and six destroyers, thereby contributing materially to the success of our operations in this area. By his courageous leadership and gallant devotion to duty, Rear Admiral Curts upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
Description The United States of America declared war on the German Empire on April 6, 1917. The U.S. was an independent power and did not officially join the Allies. It closely cooperated with them militarily but acted alone in diplomacy. The U.S. made its major contributions in terms of supplies, raw material and money, starting in 1917. American soldiers under General John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), arrived in large numbers on the Western Front in the summer of 1918. They played a major role until victory was achieved on November 11, 1918. Before entering the war, the U.S had remained neutral, though it had been an important supplier to Great Britain and the other Allied powers. During the war, the U.S mobilized over 4 million military personnel and suffered 110,000 deaths, including 43,000 due to the influenza pandemic. The war saw a dramatic expansion of the United States government in an effort to harness the war effort and a significant increase in the size of the U.S. military. After a slow start in mobilising the economy and labour force, by spring 1918 the nation was poised to play a role in the conflict. Under the leadership of President Woodrow Wilson, the war represented the climax of the Progressive Era as it sought to bring reform and democracy to the world, although there was substantial public opposition to United States entry into the war.
Although the United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, it did not initially declare war on the other Central Powers, a state of affairs that Woodrow Wilson described as an "embarrassing obstacle" in his State of the Union speech. Congress declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire on December 17, 1917, but never made declarations of war against the other Central Powers, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire or the various Co-belligerents allied with the central powers, thus the United States remained uninvolved in the military campaigns in central, eastern and southern Europe, the Middle East, the Caucasus, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific.
The United States as late as 1917 maintained only a small army, smaller than thirteen of the nations and empires already active in the war. After the passage of the Selective Service Act in 1917, it drafted 2.8 million men into military service. By the summer of 1918 about a million U.S. soldiers had arrived in France, about half of whom eventually saw front-line service; by the Armistice of November 11 approximately 10,000 fresh soldiers were arriving in France daily. In 1917 Congress gave U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans when they were drafted to participate in World War I, as part of the Jones Act. In the end Germany miscalculated the United States' influence on the outcome of the conflict, believing it would be many more months before U.S. troops would arrive and overestimating the effectiveness of U-boats in slowing the American buildup.
The United States Navy sent a battleship group to Scapa Flow to join with the British Grand Fleet, destroyers to Queenstown, Ireland and submarines to help guard convoys. Several regiments of Marines were also dispatched to France. The British and French wanted U.S. units used to reinforce their troops already on the battle lines and not to waste scarce shipping on bringing over supplies. The U.S. rejected the first proposition and accepted the second. General John J. Pershing, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) commander, refused to break up U.S. units to serve as mere reinforcements for British Empire and French units. As an exception, he did allow African-American combat regiments to fight in French divisions. The Harlem Hellfighters fought as part of the French 16th Division, earning a unit Croix de Guerre for their actions at Château-Thierry, Belleau Wood, and Séchault.
Impact of US forces on the war
On the battlefields of France in spring 1918, the war-weary Allied armies enthusiastically welcomed the fresh American troops. They arrived at the rate of 10,000 a day, at a time when the Germans were unable to replace their losses. After British Empire, French and Portuguese forces had defeated and turned back the powerful final German offensive (Spring Offensive of March to July, 1918), the Americans played a role in the Allied final offensive (Hundred Days Offensive of August to November). However, many American commanders used the same flawed tactics which the British, French, Germans and others had abandoned early in the war, and so many American offensives were not particularly effective. Pershing continued to commit troops to these full- frontal attacks, resulting in high casualties against experienced veteran German and Austrian-Hungarian units. Nevertheless, the infusion of new and fresh U.S. troops greatly strengthened the Allies' strategic position and boosted morale. The Allies achieved victory over Germany on November 11, 1918 after German morale had collapsed both at home and on the battlefield.
